British coder revealed as brains behind bitcoin rival

Gavin Wood ‘wrote the code’ for ether — whose value has soared 4,400% this year
Danny Fortson
in San Francisco
The Sunday Times
Ethereum’s ‘initial coin offerings’ were modelled on a stock market float
Ethereum’s ‘initial coin offerings’ were modelled on a stock market float
ALAMY
Danny Fortson
in San Francisco
The Sunday Times

A British computer programmer is behind a digital currency whose value has soared in a matter of months to $32bn.

Gavin Wood was previously a research scientist at Microsoft
Gavin Wood was previously a research scientist at Microsoft

In the past six months, blue-chip companies from BP to JP Morgan and Microsoft have endorsed ether, a rival to the best-known cryptocurrency bitcoin, and it has exploded in value by 4,400%.

A 37-year-old former Microsoft research scientist called Gavin Wood wrote “100% of the code” for the currency, according to Brock Pierce, an early investor in both Ethereum, the computing platform behind ether, and bitcoin.

Wood now runs a company called Parity Technologies, which has created a browser for the Ethereum network.

The business lists a London address but Wood lives in Switzerland, according to Companies House filings.

On Friday the value of an